(I took her to the vet thinking that she was older than 2 months, but they just went ahead and did the operation on her anyway).

Up until couple of days ago, she has been very good with the litter box.

She would poop there about 90% of the time and would pee close to 100% in the litter box.

She had occasional droppings here and there inside her cage but I did not think much of it because she never had an accident

outside of her cage and also I thought it was just a bunny thing to do.

Then just couple of days ago, she started pooping outside of her cage.

She would drop them just inside the play mat as if she was marking territory.

The frequency was too great to consider that as an "accident" It is clear that she was doing it on purpose.

But I was not sure if it is health related or if she's just unhappy about something.

The thing is, nothing about her living arrangement has changed.

She's still living in the same old cage in the same rabbit room.

I also let the cage door open for over 10+ hours a day every day.

Only thing that has changed is her diet.

About a week ago (so couple days before she started pooping outside of her cage),

I bought a different brand of orchard grass and also added in the timothy hay in her diet.

Her diet consists of Orchard Grass, Timothy Hay and some fresh veggies like cilantro and romaine lettuce.

Also, the day before this strange behavior started, I attempted to bathe her.

I brought in a little tub and put it down on the play mat and washed her feet (which seemed to be covered in urine).

She did not enjoy this.

Another cause may be that on the day (maybe a day before) she started pooping everywhere inside the mat, we had a pest ban guy over that sprayed things inside the walls (they have a system where they spray some chemical from outside the house and it spreads inside the walls. )

Can any of the above reasons result in this behavior problem?

Also, for couple of days, she only pooped on the mat. But today, I realized that she peed twice on the play mat as well!!!

But she did not pee or poop on the carpet.

Ugh... why do you think she's doing this and how can I fix this behavior?

This is her cage and the litter box inside.

Yeah the set up is weird but its small litter box + hay dispenser inside a big litterbox.

The blue water bottle is there to prevent bunny from pooping / peeing outside the small litterbox.

This is the rabbit room. It's about2.5x the size that is shown in this picture.

But the round table cover is what I have been referring to as "play mat"

She is not pooping / peeing on the carpet. She's just doing that inside the play mat.

But I'm afraid that she'll eventually move into going to the bathroom on the carpet as well.

Ugh Please HELP!

CinnabunMomin the TARDIS

1195 posts

9/23/2012 5:44 PM

Alright, before going for "heath" reasons, how often do you clean the litter box. Sometimes rabbits reject their litter training if they think the box isn't clean enough. Have you tried giving it a washing? Did you change the litter itself? I'm not sure if her being spayed so young means anything in this case because normally around 4 months old is when hormones kick in and the have to mark their territory, which was I originally thought this sounded like.

VictoriaL

6 posts

9/23/2012 6:02 PM

I change it every other day.

So in the small litter box, it has some paper towel on the bottom, pet bedding, and then on top of that is a puppy pad cut into a triangle shape
then I spray a little bit of baking soda on top of it.
I've used it like this for months now and she's been fine with it.

When I clean out the litter box, I dump everything out,
Change the liner on big litter box, wash both the small and big litter box with hot water then dry it with towel
then put in a fresh fillings (described above) in.

She's still using the litter box while she's eating, etc.

Also, I cleaned the litter box just couple hours before she went all over the place today.

So I'm not sure if this is the issue of cleanliness.

Also, I noticed that she does not stretch her legs when she's resting as often now in this room.
I saw her doing that in the other room yesterday though.

FrankieFlashMichigan

1715 posts

9/23/2012 6:15 PM

Okay. I would suggest looking at the habitats section of the forum for litterbox suggestions. My thinking is her mat is more comfortable than her box. I have a litter box with high side walls that works great for "over the edge" pee-ers.*Edit: I recommended this so you can take the waterbottle out and give her more room. Next, I wouldn't recommend using baking soda, she could be ingesting that when she grooms herself and that would be harmful to her health. She shouldn't need her feet washed either, she can do that herself Rabbits are really efficient cleaners.

I would also take the hay out of the hay rack and put it directly in the box. That might encourage her to squat while she eats. I know Bunjamin does. It's just like when you see guys take newspapers into the bathroom.

If you make the litter box more comfortable that might decrease her going on the mat but at this point where she's already marked the mat as hers, she'll keep doing it unfortunately.

If veggies are new, introduce them one every 3-4 days in small amounts and watch to make sure her poops remain normal. The hay you are feeding sounds great.

I hope these tips help. She's adorable btw

VictoriaL

6 posts

9/23/2012 6:28 PM

Hmm I will try your suggestions.

I'll get the water bottle out, stop using the baking soda (the litter pan has a screen on it), spread some hay on her litter box.

I've been cleaning the pee with the vinegar + water solution... but

If that does not work, i'll remove the play mat eventually.

Her poops have been normal so I think she can digest those veggies well

VictoriaL

6 posts

9/27/2012 11:46 AM

Turns out, Tiffany was just unhappy with the set up of the toilet or the mat... She just could not take it anymore. I took the little litter box out of the big one and now, she's using the bathroom just fine. (I also removed the play mat) although she still does poo inside her cage. Thanks everyone for your help.

VictoriaL

6 posts

10/03/2012 6:33 AM

Ugh seemed like she was improving but she decided to poop everywhere yet again Any other suggestions?

FrankieFlashMichigan

1715 posts

10/03/2012 11:16 AM

I'm trying to now picture what your setup is like with her. So she has a bigger liter box and the mat is gone. Is she just pooping or is she peeing too? I'm not sure I mentioned this before but part of the issue is her age and her hormones. They're crazy right now. They will calm down as she ages and if she is fixed. She feels the need to mark everything as hers with poop. When she's out, give her more than one litter box, that should help keep it down a little. Always make sure the litter boxes have lots of fresh hay in them. Rabbits are really clean creatures when it comes to self-cleaning and most likely I bet she's marking her territory with poos. Bunjamin did that ALOT before he was fixed. I hope this helps. Other members chip in!